Collegiate Sand Volleyball Championships to be held in Gulf Shores; Academy selects Stephen Holland Artist of Month in recognition of event

The 2014 Collegiate Sand Volleyball National Championships will be held on the beautiful beaches of Gulf Shores, Ala., this weekend. Competition is slated for May 2-4. Pictured is artwork from Stephen Holland, who is a renowned sports artist and has several Beach Volleyball pieces on display at the Academy’s American Sport Art Museum and Archives (ASAMA).

For the second weekend in a row, sports fans will flock to the beautiful white beaches of Gulf Shores, Ala., for an athletic competition.

The 2014 Collegiate Sand Volleyball National Championships will be held on the beach in Gulf Shores with competition slated for May 2-4. Teams from Southern Cal, Pepperdine, Florida State, Hawaii, Florida International and Stetson have been selected to compete in the third annual event organized by the American Volleyball Coaches Association.

In recognition of the event in the Eastern Shore region, the United States Sports Academy, located in Daphne, AL, will recognize Stephen Holland as its Artist of the Month for May.

Holland, a renowned American sports artist, has several Olympic Beach Volleyball paintings on display at Academy’s art museum, the American Sport Art Museum and Archives (ASAMA). Holland was named the Academy’s Sports Artist of the Year in 1993 and was one of the twelve artists selected by the United States Olympic Committee to represent the 100th Anniversary of the Olympics.

The Sport Artist of the Year Award is presented to an individual who captures the spirit and life of sport so that future generations can relive the drama of today’s competition. The recipient may use a variety of art media including film, video or sculpture to depict the breadth and scope of both the agony and the ecstasy of sport.

Along with the national championship event, the 2014 Collegiate Sand Volleyball National Championships will also feature a sixteen team Pairs Championship. The Pairs field includes the top duos from the schools in the team competition, as well as, ten doubles teams identified as the ‘Best of the Rest’ from schools not in the team competition. All participants in the Championships were selected based on results from the collegiate sand volleyball season, which began in March.

The Team Championships will be held Friday and Saturday with play starting at 9 a.m. (CT) on five championship beach courts that are constructed specifically for this event. The finals will begin at 3:30 p.m. (CT) on Saturday.

The Pairs Championship portion of the event will be played on Friday-Sunday with pool play on the first two days, followed by the Championship on Sunday. Play on Sunday will start at 8 a.m. (CT) with the semifinals scheduled to start at noon and the championship match at 2 p.m. (CT).

CBS Sports Network will televise portions of the competition in a two-hour special that will have three airings: Monday, May 26th at 7 p.m. (ET); Friday, May 30th at 7:30 p.m. (ET) and Monday, June 2nd at 7 p.m. (ET).

The 2014 Beach Volleyball season featured 40 participating programs, a landmark number that cements the status of sand volleyball as the fastest-growing NCAA emerging sport and puts it on track for NCAA Championship status by 2016.

This year’s Championship returns to Gulf Shores, the site of the championships since 2012. Gulf Shores and Orange Beach Tourism lead a group of community partners that includes the Gulf Coast Region of USA Volleyball, the city, and several local businesses that will host the event through 2015.

Last weekend, the first annual American Open Beach Handball Championship (AOBHC) hit the white sands of Gulf Shores, Ala.